1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to contact detection and to contact sports.
2. Background Art
Karate, kung-fu, tae-kwon do, kick-boxing, boxing, fencing, paint-ball and other contact sports enjoy increasing popularity as physical sports and mental disciplines. Many of these contact sports are present day successors to ancient forms of hand-to-hand combat practiced in various regions of Asia. Today, the competitive aspects of these contact sports are generally practiced by combatants in a ring (with or without ropes on the perimeter) similar to the type used in boxing.
These contact sports employ, in training and competition, full-contact formats, non-contact formats or light-contact (controlled) formats, with opponents of approximately equal experience and weight. Training must be done on a regular basis to effectively develop the skills to defend oneself in life-threatening situations or to perform optimally in organized competition. In the non-contact or light-contact formats of sparring practice, martial arts such as karate, kung-fu, etc., differ from professional boxing. In martial arts practice, offensive xe2x80x9ctechniquesxe2x80x9d or attack moves are delivered to an opponent""s body with full power and speed. They are, however, ideally controlled, pulled or stopped just short of actual physical contact or upon only light contact, depending on applicable rules of competition. This restraint is not only employed because of the great potential for serious injury that can result from skillfully delivered, unrestrained martial arts technique, but also because precise control demonstrates mental discipline and physical prowess.
A point may be awarded to a combatant when an unblocked attack or technique is delivered to the region of a designated legal target or xe2x80x9cvitalxe2x80x9d area of the opponent""s body, with sufficient speed, power and form to be adjudged to potentially cause damage to the opponent""s body if otherwise not controlled. Vital areas include the kidneys, solar plexus, face and groin. An added requirement is that a point will be awarded only when a technique threatens a designated vital or target area with impact by a predetermined xe2x80x9cdesignated hitting surfacexe2x80x9d of the attacking fighter""s body. Designated hitting surface areas include, for example, the first two knuckles of a closed fist, the side of the hand, and the ball of the foot. Excessive contact in delivering a technique in non-contact or light-contact matches can cause a fighter to be disqualified or to be denied points.
A problem created by non-contact or light-contact sports, such as these controlled martial arts sparring exercises, is that accurate scoring is predicated on the subjective evaluation of an exchange of techniques between combatants, either by the combatants themselves, or by as many as five experienced judges, strategically positioned in tournament matches at corners of the ring and within the ring itself. Dependence on this subjective judgment sometimes results in improperly awarded points, missed points, excessive contact (by a participant attempting to forcefully xe2x80x9crecordxe2x80x9d his point unmistakably for the judges) and in second punching by the defending fighter because he ignored, by design or accident, his opponent""s scoring technique. Martial arts combatants can maneuver their bodies and deliver attacks to their opponents with extreme speed and flurries of action. The speed amplifies the difficulty in determining when points should be scored. Even where several officials are employed to judge a match, visual identification of scoring maneuvers is difficult. Disagreement between officials often occurs, due to inequality of perspective enjoyed by the various officials. Moreover, visual acuity vary among officials, and even, over time, in the same official.
Participants in the contact sports of professional boxing, professional karate and kickboxing deliver their techniques with full power and speed in competitive matches with the goal of rendering their opponent temporarily incapacitated. A scoring system based on the visible accumulation of damaging blows represents one mode of measuring the effectiveness of a fighter""s technique. The rigorous nature of such contests limits participation, and offers potential for significant injury to the combatants. Full-contact matches that end without a knockout or TKO and non-contact and light contact matches are bound by subjective scoring.
Increasing number of martial arts practitioners wear protective garments including padding that cover the fighters"" designated hitting areas, such as the hands and feet. Such protective wear protects a fighter from accidental contact and severe injury. Use of protective wear is typically mandated in the great majority of tournaments in the United States and Canada. Several scoring systems have been developed to be used in conjunction with protective padding. Most of these systems employ some form of pressure-sensitive contact surface to register a blow. The major problems with these systems include their susceptibility to false hits from self-activation and lack of a simple and dependable xe2x80x9cforce of contactxe2x80x9d detection mechanism. Therefore, a simple, cost-effective and dependable contact-detection system and method and an accurate scoring system and method are needed.
The present invention provides systems and methods for enabling more dependable contact detection and, in contact sport embodiments, scoring. One embodiment described herein is a full-contact martial arts sports scoring system tailored for karate. With slight modifications, other embodiments could be easily tailored for other contact sports such as kickboxing, kung fu, boxing, paint-ball, projectiles, and fencing. Further, other embodiments could be tailored for use in non-sport related contact detection. For example, lights in a building may turn on and off based on contact detection. Children""s clothing may include contact detection mechanisms to recognize misbehavior. A preschool toy embodiment may not require one player to hit the other player to score. Instead, this toy might allow players to compete against each other by being the first to hit target areas of a floor mat with a bat or some similar striking instrument. The target area would either be identified via voice, (e.g., xe2x80x9chit the red squarexe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cwhat is 2+2xe2x80x9d) or via a visual identifier such as a flashing light on the mat in the active target area. The mat would uniquely detect each player striking instruments. The system could be set up to keep the score and determine a winner or just make different sounds for the first player to hit the active floor area. This system could also be used for a single player play. Another toy similar to the preschool toy may have a more aggressive game play concept. For example, the target may move, may be difficult to ascertain, or may be randomly active for a short periods of time.
A contacting instrument such as a glove, shoe, foil or ball includes a tone generating circuit, and a detecting instrument (or contact zone) such as a vest, or helmet includes a tone-detecting circuit. The tone generating and detecting circuits can utilize either a multi-tone or a pulse train of a single tone. While both tone alternatives have been demonstrated to be effective, using a multi-tone format has proven to be simpler and faster. The following discussion focuses on multi-tone format although the pulsed single tone method is an effective alternative.
Each contacting instrument contains a series of multi-tone-generating electronic circuits. Each detecting instrument is connected to an electronic circuit capable of uniquely detecting the tones generated by the contacting instrument. In this embodiment, the occurrence of a successfully detected multi-tone signal in the contact zone is transmitted to a remote scoreboard via a radio frequency transmitter. Depending upon the configuration within the scoreboard, the score of the aggressing combatant can be either automatically or manually advanced. For simplicity of explanation, the opponents will be identified as combatant BLUE and combatant RED. A simple scenario of scoring by combatant BLUE follows:
1) The contacting instrument of combatant BLUE, that is equipped with a multi-tone generator, is thrust, swung, or shot at combatant RED;
2) Upon sufficiently forceful contact of combatant BLUE""s contacting instrument onto some object, an impulse switch is closed in combatant BLUE""s contacting instrument, thereby triggering the contacting instrument""s battery-powered tone-generating circuit;
3) If the object which combatant BLUE struck was one of the tone-detecting contact zones of combatant RED, the generated tone is transferred to and detected by combatant RED""s battery-powered tone-detecting circuit via capacitive, inductive, or physical coupling (capacitive coupling being the technique detailed herein, while inductive and physical coupling have been demonstrated, as well, and are acceptable alternatives);
4) Upon successful tone detection by the detecting instrument, an RF transmitter is triggered for a short duration;
5) This signal is received in the scoreboard via a matched RF receiver (each combatant""s transmitter would possess a unique RF carrier frequency);
6) The software in the scoreboard can be configured to automatically score a point for combatant BLUE or signal a judge of the contact prompting the judge to increment combatant BLUE""s score if, in the judge""s opinion, the score is deemed valid; and
7) The system software can distinguish between two near simultaneous contacts (A to B and B to A) within {fraction (1/100)}th of a second.
In item 2 of the above scenario, it is appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that other switch types such as pressure sensitive switches, piezoelectric switches, or capacitive switches may be used as alternatives to the impulse switch.
A slightly different embodiment would be based on a player striking contact zones attached to something other then the opponents uniform. This embodiment would be utilized for a test apparatus for the purpose of testing the equipment prior to a match. In this configuration, the contact zones would be connected to tone-detecting circuits that would uniquely identify either opponent""s forceful contact. This facilitates a single apparatus used to test both competitors. This configuration could also be embodied in a game where opponents would compete to be the first to hit a prescribed contact zone, e.g., a moving target, with their respective contacting instruments.